Accusing an attorney of legal malpractice may have dangerous consequences, but, as in all things, the details matter. To whom you make the accusation is very important. Make it to just anyone, and there might be a good defamation law suit; make it to another concerned attorney and it could be permissible.
In Sklover v Sack 2013…
Often enough, Courts have applied res judicata broadly to the question of attorney fee disputes and a later legal malpractice issue. As a blackletter rule, if an attorney asks the court to set a fee, and it does, that act bars plaintiff from bringing the legal malpractice case on the theory that fees may not…
Yesterday we looked at Chibcha Rest., Inc. v David A. Kaminsky & Assoc., P.C. 2013 NY Slip Op 00281 Decided on January 22, 2013 Appellate Division, First Department for the question of how much a plaintiff must show, and the difference between missing a deadline and almost all other claims.
Today, we look…
Although a demonstrated lack of skill and a failure to prepare for litigation might, on its face, seem proper fodder for a legal malpractice case, in Chibcha Rest., Inc. v David A. Kaminsky & Assoc., P.C. 2013 NY Slip Op 00281 Decided on January 22, 2013 Appellate Division, First Department the court held: "Plaintiffs’…
In our article on Matrimonial Legal Malpractice and settlements in to days New York Law Journal we discuss the recent line of cases which disturb the well settled principal that a legal malpractice case after settlement is permitted where the settlement was "effectively compelled" by the mistakes of counsel.
This new line of cases, starting…
We were recently asked whether an Expert, testifying in a legal malpractice case can commit legal malpractice during testimony in the case. We discussed whether there was an attorney-client relationship, and whether "absolute immunity" for in-court testimony applied. Now, Levine v Harriton & Furrer, LLP ; 2012 NY Slip Op 01401 ; Appellate Division, Third…
State Court cases may be removed to Federal Court in two instances. One is where there is complete diversity of citizenship and the requisite dollar-damage amounts; the second is where the claim "arises" under federal law. One such instance may be questions of legal malpractice in the patents area. We are certainly aware of case…
Melcher v Greenberg Traurig, LLP 2013 NY Slip Op 00256 Decided on January 17, 2013
Appellate Division, First Department is extraordinary. It’s special for the facts, and for two holdings and the re-statement of a much overlooked principal all seriously affecting calculation of the statute of limitations. Now settled is the correct S/L statute for Judiciary Law 487, and whether there…
In the past several years we’ve been given unprecedented access to court records. No more is it necessary to travel to the courthouse to review a file, nor must we wait for the clerk to mail (or not mail) a decision. However, access to written decisions is not universal. in Bullfrog, LLC v Nolan
2013…
Plaintiffs in legal malpractice suits are often in financial distress, and bankruptcy filings loom. When a petition in bankruptcy is filed, significant changes to the debtors’ estate may take place. There are differences when the filing takes place, and each of the three major chapters have different results, whether Chapter 7,11 or 13. Here, in…
